The Khodorkovsky case is typical of the "oprichnina" - the system of oppression. — Vladimir Sorokin Copy Share Image
As a storyteller I was influenced by the Moscow underground, where it was common to be apolitical. — Vladimir Sorokin Apolitical Copy Share Image
In Russia one can be as pure as can be and still lose everything in a flash and end up in prison. — Vladimir Sorokin Copy Share Image
In Russia only those who are loyal to the people in power can become wealthy. — Vladimir Sorokin Copy Share Image
The West should be even more vocal in insisting that the Russians respect human rights. — Vladimir Sorokin Human rights Copy Share Image
Orthodox churches, autocracy and national traditions are supposed to form a new national ideology in Russia. This would mean that Russia would… — Vladimir Sorokin Autocracy Copy Share Image
The Russian writer Vladimir Nabokov once said: In a Democracy, portraits of a nation's leader should never exceed the size of a… — Vladimir Sorokin Democracy Copy Share Image
The worst thing that can happen to Russia is indifference in the West - that is, if it were interested in nothing… — Vladimir Sorokin Copy Share Image
I have Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin to thank that a Russian writer can not only write anything he wants, but also… — Vladimir Sorokin Copy Share Image
Nothing has changed in Russia since Ivan the Terrible when it comes to the divide between the people and the state. The… — Vladimir Sorokin Copy Share Image
The bureaucracy has grown such powerful roots in Russia, and corruption is so widespread, that people from opposition have no interest in… — Vladimir Sorokin Bureaucracy Copy Share Image
The citizen lives in each of us. In the days of Brezhnev, Andropov, Gorbachev and Yeltsin, I was constantly trying to suppress… — Vladimir Sorokin Art Copy Share Image
In Russia there are special people who are permitted to do anything. They are the sacrificial priests of power. Anyone who is… — Vladimir Sorokin Clout Copy Share Image
When I turn on the TV in Russia I see a general calmly claiming that our missiles are ahead of the latest… — Vladimir Sorokin Copy Share Image
In Russia whenever you encounter a minor official, he lets you know that he is above you and that you depend on… — Vladimir Sorokin Demand Copy Share Image
Putin likes to quote a sentence from Czar Alexander III, who said that Russian has only two allies - the army and… — Vladimir Sorokin Allies Copy Share Image
In Russia no one is surprised when an official accepts a bribe while at the same time portraying the state as some… — Vladimir Sorokin Absurd Copy Share Image
The word "people" is unpleasant to me. The phrase "Soviet people" was drummed into us from childhood on. I love concrete people,… — Vladimir Sorokin Absolutes Copy Share Image
I am always surprised when I watch the weather report on German television. First they show the map of Europe and then… — Vladimir Sorokin Attention Copy Share Image
My television teaches me that everything was wonderful in the Soviet Union. According to the programs I watch, the KGB and apparatchiks… — Vladimir Sorokin Angel Copy Share Image
Germans, Frenchmen and Englishmen can say of themselves: "I am the state." I cannot say that. In Russia only the people in… — Vladimir Sorokin Copy Share Image
I'm not a prophet or a teacher, I just ask questions. I don't think a writer should be a teacher, but should… — Vladimir Sorokin Copy Share Image
I ask myself whether Russia is moving in the direction of democracy. I don't believe it is! Bit by bit, Russia is… — Vladimir Sorokin Copy Share Image
As a child I perceived violence as a sort of natural law. In the totalitarian Soviet Union, oppression held everything together. It… — Vladimir Sorokin Children Copy Share Image
